Create a fillable form

To create a form in Word that others can fill out, start with a template and add content controls. Content controls include things like check boxes, text boxes, date pickers, and drop-down lists. If you’re familiar with databases, these content controls can even be linked to data.

Creating a fillable form begins with six basic steps. Let’s walk through them below.

Step 1: Show the Developer tab

Click the File tab.

Click Options.

Click Customize Ribbon.

Under Customize the Ribbon, in the list under Main Tabs, select the Developer check box, and then click OK.

Step 2: Open a template or a document on which to base the form

To save time, start with a form template. To start from scratch, start with a blank template.

Start with a form template

Click the File tab.

Click New.

In the Search online templates box, type the type of for you want to create and press ENTER.

Click the form template that you want to use, and then click Create.

Start with a blank template

Click the File tab.

Click New.

Click Blank document.

Step 3: Add content to the form

On the Developer tab, click Design Mode, and then insert the controls that you want.

Note: You can print a form that was created using content controls, but the boxes around the content controls will not print.

Insert a text control where users can enter text

In a rich text content control, users can format text as bold or italic, and they can type multiple paragraphs. If you want to limit what users add, insert the plain text content control.

Click where you want to insert the control.

On the Developer tab, click Rich Text Content Control
or Plain Text Content Control
.

Insert a building block control

Use building block controls when you want people to choose a specific block of text. For example, building block controls are helpful if you’re setting up a contract template, and you need to add different boilerplate text depending on the contract’s specific requirements. You can create rich text content controls for each version of the boilerplate text, and then you can use a building block control as the container for the rich text content controls.